A typical manure spreader implement includes a frame supported for towing in a forward working direction. A compartment for containing manure includes a conveyor operatively associated therewith for displacing the manure rearwardly towards vertical beaters.
A typical vertical beater includes an auger flight with spikes or paddles bolted thereon to increase the ability of the vertical beater to break up and spread the manure outwardly from the rear end of the implement. These spikes or paddles are typically attached to the auger flight using two bolts in single shear. In some instances, a backing support is welded to the auger flighting. The welded backing is costly to manufacture and is known to deform and come loose due to wear and corrosion. The spike or paddle on the vertical beater manure spreaders are subject to wear and impact from hard or frozen material and other foreign objects in the media. The main purpose of the bolt-on spike or paddle is to break down larger pieces of material and to accelerate the smaller pieces for increased spread width and uniformity. The spikes or paddles and the area of the flighting near the outer mount bolts are subject to high wear rates from material flow. They are also subject to failure or deformation due to impacts of hard objects.
Typical manure spreader implements with vertical beaters configure the vertical beater with a base plate and paddles on the bottom of each beater. The upper portion of the beater is constructed with multiple full rotations of auger flight or flails. Typically, the space between the top of the lower paddles and the bottom the auger do not have elements to move or throw material. This area allows the apron chain to overlap the lower portion of the beaters. In certain types or states of manure the effective distribution is poor with the middle third of the spread containing more than 75% of the spread material, the outer ⅔ of the spread has low concentrations. This causes uneven crop or pasture development. The circular geometry of the beaters results in the areas where large amounts of material fall to the lower discs. These areas are the two-outer edge and the space in front and between the beaters. This high feed rate to the lower discs flood the lower paddles that results in heavy center concentration. For improved spread quality, some manufacturers construct the spreader with only lower spinning discs that consume high power at low discharge rates. Furthermore, the exposed portion of the beater main tube can easily be damaged by rocks and other solid objects.
Numerous manure spreader manufactures construct the conveyor by attaching a floor slat to a chain link using a similar method. This is accomplished by welding multiple pieces together creating a robust joint that allows sliding motion between the chain and stat in a direction that is perpendicular to the chain and in a plane parallel to the main floor as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,643,786 for example. To reduce chain slat bending a failure the cross section of the slat is increased. The larger cross section slat increases the manufacturing difficulties of creating a joint that allows movement of the chain relative to the slat while maintaining clearance that prevent the slat for separating for the chain during operation. The relative motion is required to allow for tolerance stack up better the chains/slat assembly, tolerances of the drive and driven sprockets shaft assemblies while allowing the slats to be installed and removed without removing the chain from the sprockets. The complex structure to create the joint involves considerable costly and time-consuming welding operations.